Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ final on tonight in Haslington

May 25, 2014 Sports

Even more important than bragging rights is the opportunity to represent the community in the national finals and ultimately at the Caribbean Tournament and tonight’s finalists Melanie Damishana ‘A’ and Beterverwagting ‘B’ will have these two ambitions uppermost on their minds when they contest the championship game in the East Coast Demerara segment of the Banks DIH-sponsored Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Futsal Competition, at the Haslington Market Square.

The action promises to be as intense as in the semi-finals that should keen fans hopping in delight.

The two combatants who reached the final in contrasting style have shown that they possess players with a high caliber of skill in this format of the game and fans are expecting a scorching showdown for the top prize and bragging rights for another year.
The two teams have already assured themselves of qualification to represent the East Coast Zone in the national finals where they join the winners and runners-up of the Linden and Georgetown zones with the eventual champion to be declared this country’s representative at the Caribbean tournament set for June in Trinidad and Tobago.
Melanie ‘A’ is perhaps the strongest team on paper with national striker Dwight Peters the lynchpin of their attacking force, while William Europe and Jamal George are equally potent and expected to play a major role in their quest for victory, while opponents BV ‘B’, though they’ve made it this far, has been led mainly by the prolific Erin Fraser.
The third place playoff that features last year’s beaten finalist Victoria Church Yard United and Melanie ‘B’ could also turn out to be a riveting slugfest and predicting a winner seems to be a difficult task.
Keyron Johnson has demonstrated sublime skills in this format and no doubt Church Yard United will be hoping that he maintains his rich vein of form in this important game.
On the other hand, Melanie ‘B’ has clearly shown that they do not rely on any one player to score goals, but Ryan Seales has been solid throughout the tournament and containing him could prove to be an onerous task for the opposition defence.
Up for grabs is $300,000 for the winners, $150,000 for the runners-up, $100,000 for third place and $50,000 for fourth place.
A few supporting games are also scheduled as part of the night’s proceedings.
Kick-off time is 19:000 hrs.